The New York City Council is not known for its diversity of parties or spirited debate. Its current makeup is eight percent Republican and 92 percent Democratic. Most votes are taken behind closed doors and are nearly unanimous.

We are still more than a year away from the 2018 election. With both parties still regrouping in the aftermath of 2016, and deeply divided, it is an open question what the major issues, messages and scandals will be. However, there is one thing we can already say with near certainty. The number of seats won by each party's candidates will not track the number of votes they received.

On June 26, 2017, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced H.R. 3057: The Fair Representation Act. He was joined by co-sponsors Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). This is a historic moment. The Fair Representation Act is the most comprehensive approach to reforming congressional elections in United States history. It would truly realize the vision of the House of Representatives as “The People’s House.”

With the upcoming launch of the Fair Representation Act, legislation in Congress to end winner-take-all elections, we examine the state of representation of people of color in the current Congress and how it might change with enactment of the Act. This installment looks at the impact on Latino representation in five states in the American Southwest, where more than half of Latino Americans live.